Flatmates

The flatmates... minus the boys

It's pretty common knowledge that living in a shared house with people can be frustrating but it can also be weird and funny. 

I'm currently sharing a house with two English girls who share and room, a guy from Colombia and a guy from Mexico who also share a room. And I share a room with my friend Manon.

The house... complete with boys collection of bottles

House from the side

My most common complaint is the dishes. Obviously no one ever does them. The sink always looks like this.

Barf.

It seems impossible for the kitchen to stay clean for longer than half the day. The fridge is gnarly and occasionally leaks fridge juice on the floor.

Dont step in the fridge juice....

Right now I'm currently sharing a tiny room with Manon. I hang my towels in the bathroom because there isn't room for them in my tiny room. For the last couple of days my towels have been the only ones in the bathrooms and it really worries what everyone is doing with my towels. One day I came home and one of my towels was on the floor like a bathmat, and there are like 5 real bathmats under the sink. (One of my roommates is a cleaner at a hotel and brought home a bunch of bath mats from work). But really, what else are they doing to my towels if they are using them as bathmats.... So gross. 

The best though was last week when I had to apologize to one of my guy flatmates because he wasn't able to have sex in my living room. On a couch that I sit on all the time. What happened was the boys who camped in my yard during their hike a couple weeks came back to Queenstown for a few nights. They asked to camp in the yard again and told them yes. We went out for a few beers and when we came home I assumed they would set up their tents but they actually just slept in the living room. One of my boy flatmates came home at four in the morning with a nice lady friend he met at the bars. Since he shares a bed with the other guy in the room I guess he was planning on 'hanging out' with her in the living room but my friends were sleeping in there. He was super drunk and  became pretty angry when he discovered my friends on the couch. I woke up to some loud voices but didn't really understand what was going on. The next day my friends sleeping in the living room explained to me the situation. I felt bad because the guy doesn't bring home ladies that often so I sent him a message apologizing for my friends sleeping in the living room. Turns out he was drunk enough that he didn't remember it and wasn't mad at all. 

The infamous living room

I Have A Friend!

My friend Manon arrived in Queenstown on Saturday from Canada. We met in Sydney when we were both working as au pairs. She is looking for a job now and we are looking for places to live together. It's great to have her around, she laughs at my jokes and is really funny. It's so fun to have someone to plan travels and adventures with.

Thanks everyone who emailed and messaged me after my last post. Your kind words and encouragement helped a lot. Lorraine (my au pair mom in Sydney) sent me these pictures to cheer me up ... And they totally did. 

I love Ripleys face in this picture. She such a baddie.

We took this on my last day in Sydney

Here are some pictures from hikes and other fun things I've done. 

Hike with Emmeli

Another hike I did with a work friend

I went for a jog one morning and this was the sunrise :)

The Charlottes, Manon and I.

A Happiness Trick

I will be the first to admit that I've had a pretty amazing time this past year and a half. Things have gone really well and traveling has taught me a lot. It has allowed me to see and do some incredible things and make some true connections with amazing people. I've had a blast.

But it is not always as easy as the internet can make it seem. And moving to a new country doesn't come without challenges. I've been feeling off balance, not myself lately. I've been lonely and emotional. I miss my family and friends back home. I miss people back in Sydney and friends I made traveling. I really miss some of my friends and the genuine, funny connections I have with them.

I've been telling myself I'll feel more like myself soon. I've been trying to hike and get outdoors when I'm not working. I've been texting and trying to communicate with everyone I miss.

The other day, I remember some advice my friend Diane gave me after reading an article. The advice was really simple, all it asks is to spend 15 seconds 4 or 5 times a day to really appreciate the moment. The idea behind it is; due to evolution, our brains pay more attention to negative emotions because we needed negative emotions, like fear and stress to save our lives from immediate dangers (think lions, tigers and bears). But now every time we have a negative emotion, it doesn't save our lives and our brains focus on it and generally make us unhappy. The article suggested training our brains to focus on joyful and happy emotions by taking a small amount of time to appreciate a moment using as many senses as possible to activate as many parts of the brain as possible. For example; if you are outside walking or sitting somewhere take 15 or 30 seconds to appreciate the smell of the outdoors, the breeze or the sunshine on your face, find the beauty in something around you, and notice the birds chirping. In 15 seconds, you took what could just be a quick walk somewhere into a moment that can change your whole mood. If you do this multiple times a day you can train your mind to be a little happier.

It's pretty common sense when you think about it and it's really not that hard. It's a practice to actually help you "live in the moment" and develop positive thoughts. I've been doing it a couple times a day for the last couple days and I think it's making things a little better. 15 or 30 second is longer than I would normally take to appreciate something and it really slows me down, gives me a nice mini break. 

I really truly miss you all. I hope everyone has an amazing day. Thanks for reading. 

Love. 

Travelers

I've been in Queenstown less than two months and I've had a number of friends stay with me or pass through on their travels. It's seems like everyone wants to come New Zealand looking at how many people have already visited and how many people are planning on visiting. Two separate friends from Sydney have already passed through on their camper van tours of NZ and another friend has been staying with me for a week before her travels around the south island.

My friend Gina from back home connected me with a friend of hers that is in New Zealand hiking the Te Araroa trail. Her friend, Geoff and the other boys he is hiking with have definitely been the most interesting people to pass through Queenstown that I have met. The Te Araroa trail starts on the north island above Auckland and goes all the way down to Bluff on the tip of the south island. They have been hiking since October... 110 days or something crazy like that so far. They only have a couple more weeks left before they finish the whole trail. 

Map of the Te Araroa trail 

I was at work when they arrived but I told them they could camp in my yard and have a shower. When they came down for a drink at my work they were very thankful for a shower because they hadn't had one in two weeks. (They may have been still been a little smelly when they came into my work...probably do to the lack of washing facilities in the middle of nowhere).

The tents 

Tents and laundry

They were also pretty happy they could avoid some awkwardness by no having to knock on random people doors and ask them if they could camp in the yard. I had to work a lot during the two days they were here so I couldn't hang out with them that much but when I was able to they had some funny stories about the people they met hitch hiking and on the trail. Can't wait to see some pictures and hear more about it. 

I'd love you hear from you guys, what's the longest/craziest adventure you have done? Recently some friends of mine rode their bikes from Perth to Sydney in the middle of summer (which is almost 2500 miles). They said it was terrible. On my parents honey-moon they rode their bikes down the west coast of the US. I would love to do a long hike or bike at some point. 

Looking Forward

Do you have something you are looking forward to?

My dad, his ladyfriend Donna and my uncle are coming to visit in April!! I'm so excited! 

I haven't seen my dad in a year and half and I can't wait give him a hug and just hung out with him. As excited as I am I think he might be more excited. Weeks ago he emailed an Excle spreadsheet detailing plans for the trip and he already knows exactly what he will be packing. (He isn't coming till April!)

We are going to do the Kepler Track which is a four day hike near by Queenstown. It is suppose to a really nice hike and have amazing views. The track has huts you stay in along the way which should be different and neat. 

This will be us...

Donna and my dad have already lined up all the activities they want to do like the canyon swing, bungy jumping, a jet boat ride, paragliding and day trips to Dunedin and Milford Sound. They are only going to be here for two weeks so we really have to pack in the fun. 

Milford Sound

My mom mentioned the other day that something she learned in a sociology of tourism class in college. She said that the best part of vacations are planning them and the memories you have to after. The actually vacation doesn't even have to be good, it's mostly the excitement of planning and the stories you have after. I guess that could probably be true but I think it's going to be a pretty amazing stay-cation for me and awesome vacation for my dad, Donna and my uncle. Their visit is definitely what I am looking forward to the most right now! 

Entertainment Abroad

For all of you who didn't know this back in the US, Netflix isn't a thing in Australia and New Zealand. I know, the horror!  So over the past year and a half I've been forced to entertain myself in other ways instead of binge watching shows on Nextflix. 

I can still borrow e-books and audiobooks online from the Boulder Public Library which is pretty neat if you ask me. Also I listen to a lot podcasts when I'm walking places. (I generally do a lot more walking than home because I dont have a car and I live in places where everything I need is within a 20 minute walk.) 

A podcast I want to recommend is Serial. It's a spin off of This American Life (and if your not listening to This American Life you should be). Serial's first season is over but it was totally captivating. I would be excited for the new episode every week. It is a murder mystery and even though I'm not into mysteries I loved it. I can't wait for season two. If you already listened to it here are some funny charts related to it. 

Recently I found this web series called High Maintenance. I binged watched all the episodes in three days. It's weird and hilarious. The show follows a guy who delivers weed in New York City. Each short episodes focus on a different person who buys his weed. The characters are so weird and familiar. I totally recommend it if you have a short attention span because the episodes are only around 10 minutes.

A book I really enjoyed was This is Where I Leave You. I laughed out loud so many times while reading it. They recently turned it into a movie and my lady crush Tina Fey stars in it. The book is soooo much better though.

Do you have any recommendations for podcasts, books or web series? Seriously. I want recommendations.

Life so far in Queenstown

I got a job, and it was the job I wanted! It's at a restaurant called The Bathhouse and it's super cute. It only has 8 tables inside and 10 tables outside. The building is an original Victorian bathhouse built in 1911. It's right on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and has an amazing view of the sunset. Today is my third shift. It seems like it will be a relaxed place to work.

The Bathhouse 

The Charlottes and I are getting a new flatmate on today and I'm less than thrilled. The guy moving in is friends with the current Colombian guy that lives here, he is actually over ALLLL the time and he is incredible rude. When I moved in he was laying on the couch watching tv and when I introduced myself he just said "Oh hey, I'm Camilo, I don't live there." And they just kept watching tv! None of my actually rooommates were even home but he was chilling in my living room. He cooks and makes a huge mess then doesn't clean up and showers at our house all the time. But what really gets me will forever be referred to has the Lasagna Incident; the other day he ate the Charlottes lasagna (took it from their shelf in the fridge) without asking then left his dishes on a chair in the living room. Who does that?! However I'm hopeful that between the Charlottes and myself nagging him we can actually get him to clean up and be less rude.

Thanks to Charlotte's (who everyone calls Charlie to make things easier) birthday I had a really great day doing some activities that Queenstown has to offer. After we had a decilous birthday breakfast I went yoga. Once I was back all the housemates hiked up to where the Gondola drops people off. The hike is steep but fun. It crosses the downhill bike paths a couple times and it's fun to watch bikers going super fast downhill. 

Charlie

Charlotte 

View from half way to the top

At the top of the gondola there is an amazing view, a restaurant and a luge track. The luge track is basically a cement track and you sit on a plastic sled with wheels. I have never been luging before and it was pretty fun, even though I'm a scaredy cat and don't like to go fast. The track takes a couple minutes to go down and at the bottom a chairlift takes you back up. We did it 5 times and it cost $30 ($23 US dollars, for all of you curious back home). 

The housemates

Chairlift selfie

Not a bad view 

Once we were done luging we hung out at the top for a bit before we walked back down. By the time we got down it was ready to get ready for Charlie's birthday dinner. After dinner we when out for drinks.

Juice boxes and sandwiches for lunch!

How cute is the sandwich the Charlottes  made me!